NEWS & SUCCESS STORIES

NEWS // March 17, 2017

Diabetes Prevention Program Helps Prediabetics Reduce Their Risk

Article submitted by Ches Blevins, Health and Human Services
Agency, County of San Diego

The County of San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency is
engaging community organizations to help San Diegans live well through
a newly established diabetes prevention program workgroup. The purpose
of the workgroup is to support establishing and growing the National
Diabetes Prevention Program locally.

The National Diabetes Prevention
Program is an evidence-based, year-long class led by a trained
lifestyle coach. This class helps people with prediabetes learn how to
adopt healthy lifestyle changes (eating healthy and staying physically
active) with the goal of losing 5-7 percent of their body weight.
Participation in the Diabetes Prevention Program classes and achieving
this weight loss goal have been shown to help people with prediabetes
reduce their risk of advancing to type 2 diabetes by almost half.

Prediabetes is becoming more common in the
U.S. It is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than
normal, but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Prediabetes
is also called impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or impaired fasting
glucose (IFG), depending on the test used to measure blood glucose
levels. Having prediabetes puts one at higher risk for developing type
2 diabetes. People with prediabetes are also at increased risk for
developing cardiovascular disease. Nearly 86 million Americans are
prediabetic and 46% of people in San Diego County are estimated to be
prediabetic. Most don’t even know they have it. Those with prediabetes
are likely to develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years, unless they
take steps to prevent or delay diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association recommends that testing to detect
prediabetes and type 2 diabetes be considered in adults without
symptoms, who are overweight or obese and have one or more additional
risk factors for diabetes. In those without
these risk factors, but who are overweight or obese, testing should
begin at age 45. Risk factors for prediabetes and diabetes, in
addition to being overweight or obese or being age 45 or older,
include the following:

Being physically inactive;

Having a parent, brother,
or sister with diabetes;

Having a family background that is
African American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian American,
Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander;

Giving birth to a
baby weighing more than 9 pounds or being diagnosed with gestational
diabetes first found during pregnancy;

Having high blood
pressure of 140/90 mmHg or above, or being treated for high blood
pressure;

Having other conditions associated
with insulin resistance, such as severe obesity or a condition
called acanthosis nigricans, characterized by a dark, velvety rash
around the neck or armpits; and

Having a history of
cardiovascular disease.

If results of testing are normal, testing should be repeated at
least every three years. Doctors may recommend more frequent testing
depending on initial results and risk status. The Chronic Disease and
Health Equity unit, in partnership with Aging and Independence
Services, has been successful in growing the National Diabetes Prevention
Program here in San Diego. There are 17 organizations that are
either fully recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, as a qualified program, or are actively in process of
becoming recognized. A number of partnering organizations are expected
to begin offering the program to other areas in the County besides San
Diego in the near future.